BJ Barham and his band have been touring relentlessly since last August when their latest album “Burn.Flicker.Die” came out on Last Chance Records. It was produced by Jason Isbell, formerly a member of the Drive-By Truclers. Barham saw the making of their latest as a make-or-break endeavour after playing and growing a fan base in the South. I caught up with Barham just before Thanksgiving. Hereis an article on the band; below is more of my conversation with him.

You can listen to the band’s new album hereand read a review of it here. They perform at The Soapbox Friday, Nov. 30.

Is the break much needed or do you prefer stay in the mind set of being on the road?

We take breaks out of necessity. It’s hard to go three months at a time. We’re a band that believes in staying on the road. We believe in building our fan base but you have to take breaks, especially this time of year. Family comes first. A lot of our touring in December stays close to home – Charlotte, Greensboro, Virginia, South Carolina dates. It’s all about staying close to home, not getting too far out there because my mom would kill me if I wasn’t home for Christmas.

This was a seven week tour. We were gone for 47 days. The longest the band has done was two and half months, which pretty much almost killed us. Its one of those things where we vowed after that tour to never do anything over two months ever again. The perfect tour for us, especially one that stretches out pretty far, is a month.

How is it playing the new songs now? Were you playing them a lot prior to the album’s release?

We played those a lot before we toured. (The album) “Burn Flicker Die” has been done since last January and was written six months before that. I wrote three new songs for the record the last couple of months. Songs like “St. Mary’s” and “Burn Flicker Die” has been done for years and they’ve been road tested. “Casualties,” “Northern Lights” and “Savannah Almost Killed Me” didn’t get as much touring time as the others.

Did you think your music would crossover this much with both country and rock fans alike?

Not this much. The bands we love out of this genre is Drive By Truckers, those kind of bands. They pull a lot from the rock and roll side, the punk rock, the southern rock folks. You don’t see many cowboys come to the shows. That’s one thing we’ve been really blessed with, a lot of die hard country fans really like us. We’re just very, very fortunate.

How you view the new material in respect to older material? How do you see the songs now since you wrote them, in 2011 right?

It’s my favorite batch of songs I’ve written. Every record I’ve written I’ve been really proud of all the songs but some I think are just better than other songs. This record I think all these songs stand on their own. When “Small Town Hymns” came out we played three songs (from it) live during a regular set. Its one of those things, after six years of working and actually trying to learn how to make a good record, we’ve got as close as we ever came before. We still want to set the bar for the next one but it’s the best thing we’ve done as a band. Its really starting to show and our fan base thinks so.

Without the hard years, experience, loss and gain, could you have made this album?

No, it‘s impossible. This record is, without sounding cheesy, a labor of love. I could have never have written this record without touring like we did. This is a Sunday morning to a Saturday night. You can’t have hangover without a really good time before. To be such a downer record about not making it, it’s actually the record that got us the most success. Without the experiences I’ve had in the last six years on the road, seeing this happen to other bands, crumbling relationships…looking back I’m super grateful to have gone through a bunch of stupid stuff to get here because I’m really proud of this record.

How did working with Jason Isbell affect the album?

Jason’s one of the guys I really look up to as a singer songwriter. There’s not many other people I hold in high regard. His body work is so consistent and so good and it continues to get better. He was in the Drive By Truckers and I thought that was the best stuff and now his solo stuff is just amazing. I think he’s one of the people in our genre that will go down as a legend. He just continues to put out good work and he’s only 33 years old.

When I talked to you last you were planning to record in Muscle Shoals. Did the experience transcend what you thought it was going to be?

Going down to Muscle Shoals was a great opportunity. We were fortunate to that Jason and a good friend of ours offered to do our record for us. The mojo down there was just amazing. So many great artists recorded there – The Stones, Bob Dylan, you’re walking the footsteps of some of the greatest songwriters ever. The musical history makes it a destination for bands to record. Once we got down there we didn’t know if we were going to be intimidated because we’re all big fans of Jason’s.

We were there for eight days and it’s the easiest record we ever made. It flowed really well and Jason put his stamp on it. Jason played some piano, some guitar on it. The cool thing was the fact that there’s so much history in that town. We needed some piano for the album and Jason called up Spooner Oldham, Neil Young’s piano player. That’s the kind of stuff that we walk away from, thinking wow, we have a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on our record. It’s crazy.

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The WAE: Wilmington-area Arts & Entertainment is dedicated to experiencing, discussing and promoting the arts in Southeastern N.C. From theater and all manner of music to visual art, dance, festivals and more, The WAE is populated by people who are immersed in local A&E. If it’s about A&E in Southeastern N.C., then we’re all about it.